07/08/2025
Lately, I’ve been revisiting Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, and as a mother, I can’t help but view each of Noor’s milestones — in infancy and the upcoming toddler phase — through that lens. It’s becoming increasingly clear to me how deeply significant these early experiences are. Each stage lays the foundation for emotional patterns such as trust, autonomy, shame, guilt, and eventually identity.
What’s striking is how complex it is — how her sense of safety, self, and emotional regulation is being shaped moment by moment. The way she experiences a clap of encouragement, a casual comment, or even a playful joke — all of it contributes to her developing worldview. The way we respond, the words we choose, and the emotional cues we give her aren’t just fleeting interactions — they are, in many ways, laying the groundwork for her inner narrative.
It’s both humbling and overwhelming to realize that in these seemingly small moments, the emotional scaffolding of a human being is being built.
